Great American Songbook Saturday – Once In A While

I first heard the song “Once In A While” when I worked at Honey Radio in Detroit. We played the Doo-Wop version by the Chimes. They released it in 1960, and it peaked at #11 on the charts in early 1961.

The song itself, however, has been around since 1937, when Louis Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey (who took it to #1) recorded it.

The song was written by composer Michael Edwards. Edwards was also a classical violinist. Lyrics were written by Bud Green, who wrote many show tunes for Broadway shows. It has been recorded by many artists, including a top ten version by Patti Page in 1952.

Today, I want to be sure to mark the 117th birthday of Harriet Hilliard, better known to most as Harriet Nelson or Ozzie and Harriet. She was born Peggy Lou Snyder on July 18th, 1909. She appeared in vaudeville when she was three years old and made her debut on Broadway in her teens. In 1932, she met Ozzie in vaudeville and he asked her to sing with his band. They would get married three years later.

She would have been about 28 years old when she sang the song with Ozzie’s orchestra.

She passed away in October of 1994 in California. She was 85 years old.